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The Knights of the Raven Skies
This secretive and almost unheard-of dwarvish faction dwells in the vastness of the Misty Mountains, somewhere between Lorien and Rivendell, in undisclosed halls dug from the depths of the mountains. Few know of their precise location, with Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel, and whoever the current ruler of the Lonely Mountain is at any point in time being among them. Their organisation began on a moonless night, a mighty dwarf warrior of old taking upon himself an oath to protect the weak and uphold the values of good with every power that he had. As he did so a raven flew out of the pitch black sky and landed on his shoulder, which surprised him, as ravens are a daytime bird, and thence came the name for this faction. As time went on the warrior found that the gifts of those thankful for his help became too much and too valuable as a whole to store safely anywhere, so prolific were his good deeds, and he realised that he would need a haven where he could both rest and store his belongings in safety from all who would do him harm. And so began the Great and Final quest of Khugnok the Mighty. He searched all over Middle Earth, finally settling on the Misty Mountains as his final pick. There he mined the First Great Hall, over time bringing trusted dwarves into his oath as he saw fit and entrusting them with the same lifelong mission that he had taken upon himself that fateful night. Then, as the final chip of the Hall was complete, he announced “There, it is done”, then sat on the Chair of the Great Ones, gave his final advice and instructions to the dwarves gathered around him, and died. Out of respect a statue was carved of him and placed in an alcove, beginning a tradition which carried on until the final destruction of the faction. Throughout many years the faction grew, each member taking upon them the same oath as Khugnok, and as they grew so did the number of great halls and the need for the materials to support themselves. As it so happened in the building of one of these halls a thick vein of gold was found, and a mine started soon after. This gold mine, two silver mines and four of iron became the main source of wealth and prosperity, abundant as they were, and formed the basis of their economy. It also led to the discovery of mithril deep in the mountain, not a huge vein but it was mined with the utmost care and precision, not one speck being lost, such was their skill. This mithril was then stored securely and saved for the great smiths to craft weapons and armour for those of the highest order in the clan that would become, or that already were, legendary. This carried on until some time near the end of the fourth age, where both a devastating sickness and a small invasion of orcs, trolls and goblins wiped out almost every dwarf, as the sickness took away much of the power of the heroes who were a part of it, although they still fought valiantly and the orcish losses were horrendous, only being defeated through attrition and lack of food in a final battle in the First Great Hall after having fought in each of the other 8 before it. However, the forces who eradicated the dwarves could never find either the entrances to the mines, nor the riches that had come out of them, so cleverly were they hidden, and the invading force was soon disbanded in chaos. Category:Factions Category:Dwarves